


Conditional Surrender

by JazzRaft



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Humor, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9794642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: Ravus needs to learn to share, Nyx needs to get over his Niflheim prejudice… neither of those things are accomplished.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nicrt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicrt/gifts).



> Originally posted on [tumblr](http://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/156329375302/nicrt-suggested-a-scenario-where-ravus-and-nyx) for [nicrt.](https://nicrt.tumblr.com/)

“Trust me, this usually always works.”

He didn’t trust her. She scared the shit out of him just walking down a hallway by herself. When she locked both of his notoriously dangerous boyfriends in a linen closet like they were common street thugs, she absolutely paralyzed him with terror.

Nyx banged on the door, throwing out some less than savory terminology for what he intended to do to the both of them should they leave him in there with “this stiff-lipped Nif scumbag.” Ravus’s warnings were calmer and less abusive to the door, but no less intense with a promise of mortal doom upon the heads of them both should they not acquiesce to his request.

While Noctis thought Ravus was being nothing but polite – given the circumstances – Aranea apparently took greater insult to his soft-spoken wrath than Nyx’s brazen threats.

“Oof, that stings Commander! Hope it’s a promise!”

“Highwind, I’ve had about enough of your ridiculous games –“

“If you win this one I’ll let you off the circuit for good,” Aranea called through the door. (Noctis noted the crossed fingers hidden behind her back.)

Ravus went quiet, considering her proposal, but Nyx was far from ready to negotiate. “Noct! I swear to the Six if you don’t make her open this door, I’m, err… shit, um…”

“Aww, he’s adorable,” Aranea crooned, deliberately close to where she knew Ravus was, practically feeling the prickly commander bristling on the other side of the door. “Don’t worry Nyxie, I’ll keep His Highness company while you two work through your custody agreement.”

There was an intention to her words that quieted the both of them for a beat before frantically resuming their futile attempts to break the door down.

“Aranea, do _not_ touch my boyfriend!”

“Highwind, I order you to cease whatever fantastical flirtation you are thinking of entertaining!”

Aranea snaked an arm over Noctis’s shoulders, steering the blushing prince down the hall. “Come on, Prince Charmless. Let me treat you to a drink.”

“Noct, she’ll eat you alive!”

“You’re out of your depth, Caelum! Retreat immediately!”

They were met with silence in return, the two instigators of their imprisonment since departed. Nyx kicked the door in frustration, earning him a scoff from Ravus.

“I don’t know why you think continuing to assault the door is going to work when it didn’t the first hundred times you tried.”

“Do _not_ start with me right now.”

“I’m merely stating the obvious.”

“If it’s so obvious, does it really need stating?”

Ravus crossed his arms, a mechanism he often defaulted to in front of new troopers to exercise a look of authority. It didn’t work on a man who’d spent his entire military career spiting said authority. Nyx folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wall, looking awfully comfortable considering the confined space. Whereas Ravus was already starting to feel a little claustrophobic. He scanned the closet from corner to corner in search of a useful tool that he might use to open the door.

“Are you not even going to try?” he asked Nyx when he noticed that the man was not equally hastening for a means of escape.

“No point.” He shrugged. “They’ll be back eventually. Besides, I’ve got nothin’ better to do.”

“Some of us do.”

Unlike a low-ranking grunt of Lucis’s Kingsglaive, the High Commander of Niflheim had ceaseless obligations to meet. There were reports that needed filing, squadrons that needed organizing, cadets that needed overseeing, a chancellor that needed watching, and a sister that needed protecting. His absence for any extended period of time could very well spell disaster for any of the aforementioned parties. He barely had time to entertain Aranea’s games when she was bored, let alone enlisted into the service of Noctis – the traitorous brat.

“There must be something…” he was muttering.

“Yeah, there is,” Nyx suggested. “I’m lookin’ at it.” He nodded to Ravus’s arm. The strange, metallic substance which constructed it shone dully in the absent light. “Just punch a hole through the door or something.”

“I’ve been advised against it.”

“Oh so you can use your arm to claw up my boyfriend when it suits you, but not to break down a damn door?”

Ravus met Nyx’s glare with a narrow one of his own, surprised by the hostility towards that particular subject. “I assumed we had an understanding…”

“We do. Doesn’t mean I have to like all of it.” There was a resigned displeasure to the man’s glare. “I don’t get off on seeing Noct bleed like you do – or like he does. But if that’s what he needs every once in a while to deal with whatever’s going on in that head of his…”

“As if you don’t know?” Ravus huffed out a laugh. “Does he not tell you everything?”

“Most things. Not all things.”

They regarded each other in chilly silence for a moment. The foundations of this little arrangement relied solely on Noctis’s fulfillment and the two of them not being within each other’s general vicinity at any given moment. They could not be more different, and that was what Noctis liked about the both of them… which was all well and good for _him_. There was no jealousy between the two of them – the combination of them functioned as an equilibrium for the prince – and there was nothing one yearned for from Noctis that the other might have.

Nyx didn’t want to push Noctis past the point of breaking, and Noctis didn’t want to ask him to.

Ravus didn’t want to be inside of Noctis’s heart, and Noctis didn’t want to ask him to be.

They all had different wants and needs and positions that they were uniquely qualified to fill. But Nyx still hated Ravus for being the High Commander of Niflheim, who threatened his homeland every day that he was breathing. And Ravus still disliked Nyx for bearing all of the characteristics Ravus hated in a person – brazenness, vulgarity, spitefulness.

The only thing they had in common was Noctis, and that he filled a vacant space in each of them in a way that was vastly different from the other. And for some reason, he wanted them to get along. Enough to ask Aranea Highwind, self-described perpetrator and delighter in all things sadistic, for her advice.

“How’s this gonna work?” Nyx asked into the tense silence through gritted teeth, knowing he had to do this for Noctis’s sake and fighting against every instinct to the contrary that told him he didn’t have to do jack shit for this Nif.

Ravus observed their situation through the lens of a tactician. As in all battles, there were aspects that could be used to one’s advantages and aspects that could be used to one’s disadvantage. He considered for a moment that perhaps the both of them had been focusing too hard on the multitude of disadvantages in each other’s existence to see any advantages.

“We should…” Ravus swallowed the flavor of bile in his throat that rose to repel his suggestion. “Figure out at least one thing we might… _like_ … about one another.”

Nyx shuddered, viscerally disgusted by the notion, but consented, nevertheless. “Fine. You first.”

Ravus ground his teeth, molars clapping together anxiously in the back of his mouth. “I… like… that you’re a great comfort to Noctis, and that he can trust you to keep him safe.”

Nyx narrowed his gaze, tongue clicking against the inside of his cheek. “I like that, even though it’s rough, you’re considerate enough to not _really_ hurt Noct. Or scare him.”

They quietly watched each other for a moment, analyzing what they had offered and processing whether or not it was a good enough compromise.

“There’s one other thing I think we can agree on,” Nyx added, just to ensure the validity of their agreement.

“What might that be?”

“I don’t like Aranea with her hands all over our boy.”

“Highwind is certainly a… frustrating woman.”

Ravus’s brow twitched, a career of experience plain on his face. Nyx pushed himself off the wall and cracked his knuckles, inspiration revived for tackling the door.

“While this little ceasefire lasts, what do you say we mount a rescue for our dashing damsel?”

“If you’re solution is to kick the door again…”

“I’m thinkin’ way bigger this time. Between the two of us ramming the thing at the same time, I think we might be able to bust the hinges a bit.”

Ravus had his doubts, but Nyx was already poised like an athlete about to make a run for the ball, gaze intent on the door. Sighing, Ravus stood beside him and waited for his cue. On the count of three, they both bolted at the door… and bounced right back.

“Ow, shit,” Nyx groaned on the floor, clutching his shoulder.

“Unfortunate, yes,” Ravus agreed, rubbing at his own arm.

They were stuck in there for another hour.


End file.
